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North Korea was practicing to strike United States military bases in Japan with its latest barrage of missiles, state media in Pyongyang reported Tuesday, and appears to be trying to outsmart a new American anti-missile battery being deployed to South Korea by firing multiple rockets at once.

Kim Jong Un presided over Monday’s launch of the four missiles, “feasting his eyes on the trails of ballistic rockets,” the Korean Central News Agency reported in a statement that analysts called a “brazen declaration” of its intent to strike its enemies with a nuclear weapon if it came under attack.

“If the United States or South Korea fires even a single flame inside North Korean territory, we will demolish the origin of the invasion and provocation with a nuclear tipped missile,” the KCNA statement said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...742_story.html

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North Korea complains to the UN Security Council

North Korea's UN ambassador, Ja Song-nam, said in a letter to the UN Security Council on Monday the US was using nuclear-propelled aircraft carries, nuclear submarines, nuclear strategic bombers and stealth fighters in the joint exercises that began on March 1.

"Consequently, the situation on the Korean Peninsula is again inching to the brink of a nuclear war."

Mr Ja again urged the Security Council to discuss the US-South Korea exercises and warned if it ignored North Korea's request as it had in the past it would demonstrate the UN's most powerful body was only a "political tool" of the United States.

The ambassador said the United States sought to convince public opinion that the joint exercise was a response to North Korea's nuclear weapons, but said the US and South Korea carried out military drills numerous times before Pyongyang possessed its "nuclear deterrent".

North Korea sent the letter on the manoeuvrers hours after North Korea fired four banned ballistic missiles earlier on Monday, in apparent reaction to the US-South Korean exercises.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-0...saster/8330554

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North Korea said on Tuesday it has temporarily banned Malaysians from leaving the country to ensure the safety of its diplomats and citizens in Malaysia amid an escalating row over the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother.

The North's foreign ministry has notified the Malaysian embassy in Pyongyang of the reason for the measure and said it had hoped the case would be swiftly and fairly resolved in order to develop bilateral ties with Malaysia, the North's KCNA news agency reported.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-no...-idUSKBN16E0BD